Discrimination of 14 olive cultivars using morphological analysis and machine learning algorithms.

Traditional morphological analysis is a widely employed tool for the identification and discrimination of olive germplasm by using morphological markers which are monitored by subjective manual measurements that are labor intensive and time-consuming. Alternatively, an automated methodology can quantify the geometrical features of fruits, leaves and endocarps with high accuracy and efficiency in order to define their morphological characteristics. In this study, 24 characteristics for fruits, 16 for leaves and 25 for endocarps were determined and used in an automated way with basic classifiers combined with a meta-classsifier approach.

Optimizing Agroecological Measures for Climate-Resilient Olive Farming in the Mediterranean.

In order to evaluate the potential of climate change mitigation measures on soil physiochemical properties, an experiment based on the application of five agroecological practices such as the addition of composted olive-mill wastes, recycling pruning residue, cover crops, organic insect manure, and reduced soil tillage, solely or combined, was conducted over two years (2020 to 2022) in a 48-year-old olive plantation. The results showed significant increases in soil water content during the spring and summer periods for the combined treatment (compost + pruning residue + cover crops) (ALL) compared to the control (CONT) by 41.6% and 51.

Threatened Cretan species Boiss. & Heldr.: phenolic profile by HPLC-PDA-MS and antioxidant capacity.

In this study, the chemical content of the threatened Cretan endemic Boiss. & Heldr. was investigated by High Performance Liquid chromatography-Photodiode Array-Mass Spectrometry (HPLC-PDA-MS) analysis.

Plant Cell Walls Tackling Climate Change: Insights into Plant Cell Wall Remodeling, Its Regulation, and Biotechnological Strategies to Improve Crop Adaptations and Photosynthesis in Response to Global Warming.

Plant cell wall (CW) is a complex and intricate structure that performs several functions throughout the plant life cycle. The CW of plants is critical to the maintenance of cells' structural integrity by resisting internal hydrostatic pressures, providing flexibility to support cell division and expansion during tissue differentiation, and acting as an environmental barrier that protects the cells in response to abiotic stress. Plant CW, comprised primarily of polysaccharides, represents the largest sink for photosynthetically fixed carbon, both in plants and in the biosphere.

An early evaluation of translocation actions for endangered plant species on Mediterranean islands.

conservation is widely considered a primary conservation strategy. Plant translocation, specifically, represents an important tool for reducing the extinction risk of threatened species. However, thus far, few documented translocations have been carried out in the Mediterranean islands.

Modelling strategies for assessing and increasing the effectiveness of new phenotyping techniques in plant breeding.

New types of phenotyping tools generate large amounts of data on many aspects of plant physiology and morphology with high spatial and temporal resolution. These new phenotyping data are potentially useful to improve understanding and prediction of complex traits, like yield, that are characterized by strong environmental context dependencies, i.e.

Suppression of a Prolyl 4 Hydroxylase Results in Delayed Abscission of Overripe Tomato Fruits.

The tomato pedicel abscission zone (AZ) is considered a model system for flower and fruit abscission development, activation, and progression. O-glycosylated proteins such as the IDA (INFLORESCENCE DEFICIENT IN ABSCISSION) peptide and Arabinogalactan proteins (AGPs) which undergo proline hydroxylation were demonstrated to participate in abscission regulation. Considering that the frequency of occurrence of proline hydroxylation might determine the structure as well the function of such proteins, the expression of a tomato prolyl 4 hydroxylase, SlP4H3 ( Prolyl 4 Hydroxylase 3) was suppressed in order to investigate the physiological significance of this post-translational modification in tomato abscission.

Genotype-dependent regulation of vitamin E biosynthesis in olive fruits as revealed through metabolic and transcriptional profiles.

Vitamin E is a general term used to describe a group of eight lipophilic compounds known as tocochromanols. These vitamin E variants are chemically categorised into two classes formed by α-, β-, γ- and δ- tocopherols and tocotrienols isoforms, respectively. The present study describes the concurrent regulation of genes and metabolites orchestrating vitamin E biosynthesis in olive drupes of five distinctive Greek olive cultivars.

Description of olive morphological parameters by using open access software.

Background: The morphological analysis of olive leaves, fruits and endocarps may represent an efficient tool for the characterization and discrimination of cultivars and the establishment of relationships among them. In recent years, much attention has been focused on the application of molecular markers, due to their high diagnostic efficiency and independence from environmental and phenological variables.

Results: In this study, we present a semi-automatic methodology of detecting various morphological parameters.

Phytochemical analysis and antioxidant activity of Lycium barbarum (Goji) cultivated in Greece.

Context: The fruit of Lycium barbarum L. (Solanaceae), known as goji berry, has been exploited for a long time in traditional Chinese medicine. In recent decades, it has received much attention as one of the trendiest functional foods with a wide array of pharmacological activities in Western diets.

Assessing the Spatial Variability of Alfalfa Yield Using Satellite Imagery and Ground-Based Data.

Understanding the temporal and spatial variability in a crop yield is viewed as one of the key steps in the implementation of precision agriculture practices. Therefore, a study on a center pivot irrigated 23.5 ha field in Saudi Arabia was conducted to assess the variability in alfalfa yield using Landsat-8 imagery and a hay yield monitor data.

454 Pyrosequencing of Olive (Olea europaea L.) Transcriptome in Response to Salinity.

Olive (Olea europaea L.) is one of the most important crops in the Mediterranean region. The expansion of cultivation in areas irrigated with low quality and saline water has negative effects on growth and productivity however the investigation of the molecular basis of salt tolerance in olive trees has been only recently initiated.

De novo transcriptome analysis of petal senescence in Gardenia jasminoides Ellis.

Background: The petal senescence of ethylene insensitive species has not been investigated thoroughly while little is known about the temporal and tissue specific expression patterns of transcription factors (TFs) in this developmental process. Even less is known on flower senescence of the ornamental pot plant Gardenia jasminoides, a non climacteric flower with significant commercial value.

Results: We initiated a de novo transcriptome study to investigate the petal senescence in four developmental stages of cut gardenia flowers considering that the visible symptoms of senescence appear within 4 days of flower opening.

A SNP-based PCR-RFLP capillary electrophoresis analysis for the identification of the varietal origin of olive oils.

Authenticity and traceability of high quality monovarietal extra virgin olive oils is a major concern for markets and consumers. Although analytical chemistry techniques are widely used to satisfy these needs recently developed DNA-based methods can serve as complementary approaches. A SNP database comprising 10 Greek olive varieties was constructed and five SNPs, residing in restriction sites, were selected for the development of a PCR-RFLP capillary electrophoresis method to discriminate these varieties using leaf DNA as template.

Comparative transcriptome analysis of two olive cultivars in response to NaCl-stress.

Background: Olive (Olea europaea L.) cultivation is rapidly expanding and low quality saline water is often used for irrigation. The molecular basis of salt tolerance in olive, though, has not yet been investigated at a system level.

A new alkaloid from Narcissus serotinus L.

A new alkaloid derivative of [2]benzopyrano-[3,4-c] indole, isomer of 3-epimacronine, 4-methoxy-5-methyl-1,2,3,5,6,6alphaR-hexahydro-[1,3]dioxolo[4',5':6,7]isochromeno [3,4-c]indol-8-one, has been isolated from Narcissus serotinus L. (Amaryllidaceae) and its structure was elucidated by mass and spectral analysis.

Determination of hydrogen peroxide scavenging activity of cinnamic and benzoic acids employing a highly sensitive peroxyoxalate chemiluminescence-based assay: structure-activity relationships.

A series of cinnamic acids along with their corresponding benzoate analogues were tested for their ability to scavenge hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2)), by using a highly sensitive, peroxyoxalate chemiluminescence assay. Among benzoic acid derivatives, vanillic acid (3-hydroxy-4-methoxybenzoic acid) was found to be the most efficient H(2)O(2) scavenger with its hydrogen peroxide scavenging activity (SA(HP)) being 170.20 microM(-1), whereas protocatechuic acid (3,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid) exhibited the weakest activity (5.

A peroxyoxalate chemiluminescence-based assay for the evaluation of hydrogen peroxide scavenging activity employing 9,10-diphenylanthracene as the fluorophore.

Introduction: A simple, rapid, sensitive, and enzyme-free analytical method for estimating scavenging of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) was developed.

Methods: Peroxyoxalate chemiluminescence (POCL) was measured, using 9,10-diphenylanthracene as fluorophore.

Results: The chemiluminescence signal was found to be linear in response to increasing amounts of H2O2 in ethyl acetate/acetonitrile (9:1) (r2 = .